SUSTAINABLE INGREDIENTS IN COSMETIC PRODUCTS: THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Across the globe, governments, businesses, and consumers are increasingly turning their attention to the impact of the products we consume in our daily lives. What are they made of? Where do they come from? How should we dispose of them? In the cosmetics industry, this shift has inspired the "clean beauty" trend, where products offer not only aesthetic results but also transparency and respect for people and the planet.

To meet consumer demands as well as ethical and regulatory standards, formulators should focus on harnessing the power of sustainable and eco-friendly ingredients, reviewing their manufacturing processes, and embracing circularity.

Establishing a baseline

The first step in improving the sustainability of an ingredient or product is understanding its current impact. A sustainability profile is encompasses several criteria to measure its environmental and social impacts: renewability, biodegradability, water consumption, life-cycle analysis to calculate carbon footprint, empowerment of local communities... These assessments help organizations better understand the impact of a product and, in turn, to improve it, such as adjusting ingredient sourcing or product design. They can also help with prioritization, indicating which products in the portfolio should be tackled first in order to reduce negative impacts most effectively.

Embedding natural ingredients

With focus areas identified, one option for improving the sustainability profile of cosmetic products is to use natural ingredients in formulations. This can be done holistically by using the whole plant, or by creating value from leftovers, using waste or by-products residues to provide high-quality ingredients for the cosmetics industry. For example, food by-products like fruit peels, rice bran, or sugar cane bagasse, which would otherwise be thrown away, can offer interesting cosmetic and health benefits (1).

At the same time, however, the use of natural ingredients must not place undue strain on ecosystems and supply chains. Regenerative agriculture – centered on agronomic principles that protect and restore natural resources – is one solution to this challenge. It aims to improve soil health and fertility while capturing carbon in soils and plant biomass, thereby removing CO₂ from the atmosphere and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Ultimately, using regenerative practices to produce cosmetic ingredients can deliver a range of social and environmental benefits, including improved water and air quality, enhanced ecosystem biodiversity, nutrient-dense food, and carbon storage to help mitigate the effects of climate change as well as bring benefits to local communities.

Harnessing green chemistry

Since natural products are not always a more sustainable option, it is also worth investing in more sustainable synthetic ingredients. For example, so-called nature-identical ingredients, created in a lab but with the molecular structure and properties of their naturally occurring counterparts, can reduce the environmental impact of harvesting, and help conserve biodiversity.

Whether they are developing new products or considering the impact of existing ones, organizations should consider the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry (2), from waste prevention and safer chemicals to renewable feedstocks and improved biodegradability when designing new ingredients for example. When assessing an ingredient against the 12 principles and weighing the respective contribution of each green chemistry principle, key priority actions can be identified to make most relevant improvements in the manufacturing process (ie: solvent free, waste reduction, renewable feedstock).

Innovating the manufacturing process

It is crucial to look not only at where cosmetic ingredients come from, but also at how they are processed. By reducing waste, water use, and land occupancy, producers can develop ingredients and molecules that harness nature's power without depleting it.

In the area of extraction, hyperfrequency technology requires much less time, energy, and solvent compared to traditional methods. The process also allows a more homogeneous and complete extraction of the plant's active compounds. Another more sustainable extraction process is the enzymatic method, whichuses gentle enzyme extraction and waste valorization. The extraction residue can be used to produce biogas, and the part of the plant that is not used can be composted. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), which uses CO₂ to extract compounds from plant materials in a waterless process is another interesting technology.

When it comes to water, it is essential to focus on specific areas and adapt to the local ecosystem. In water-stressed regions, production sites should be adapted to minimize water use – with key methods including recycling production water, using cleaned rainwater and greywater, installing leak-detection systems, and regular training and monitoring.

Turning to biotechnology, "blue" biotechnology offers the opportunity to explore renewable marine resources , while respecting life below water level. Production is powered by photobioreactors that use outdoor solar energy thanks to algae photosynthesis. "White" biotechnology allows microorganisms to produce targeted molecules from renewable feedstock at a large scale.

Managing the full life cycle

Of course, true leadership in sustainability also comes down to the way producers manage the entire life cycle of their products. “Cycle” is the key word: in contrast to the traditional linear economy – in which we "take, make, and dispose" – the circular economy is about optimizing resource efficiency. In particular, this “doing more with less” approach involves designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use for longer, and regenerating natural systems (3). By not taking more ingredients from the planet than it can sustainably provide, and by using them responsibly or valorizing co-products cosmetic ingredients producers can preserve precious raw materials, decrease CO₂ emissions and ultimately have a lower social and environmental impact which has to be assessed and quantified all along the value chain, to focus on the relevant improvements to operate, step by step.

Ingredients are one contribution to sustainable and clean beauty . Minimizing the number of ingredients in a formulation is another way to achieve this goal; selecting only essential raw materials or leveraging multifunctionality of some ingredients to deliver the promised benefits. By turning to other circular solutions (4) – like refillable products and packaging made from recycled materials or no packaging– industry players can make an even greater contribution to tackling global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Future-proof cosmetic products will combine eco-designed ingredients i, process efficiencies, solid cosmetics, limited packaging, biodegradable finished products, … including responsible life-cycle management from cradle to the end of life of the finished product not forgetting a holistic positive impact on the well-being of consumers.

“Our industry should view our challenges as opportunities and new paths to innovation. Every stakeholder in the beauty value chain has the responsibility to collaborate with suppliers and brands to develop a new model for creating sustainable beauty together.”

Gaelle Bathany